Hello and welcome to another overcast day of Mets baseball. Tonight, the Mets (53-57) will square off against Miami (50-60) in the second game of a three-game series. Last night, in the first game, Jon Niese allowed four runs in the fourth and the Marlins’ bullpen shut down New York in a 4-2 loss.
Tonight, the Mets send Chris Young to the mound in an attempt to even things up against Miami’s trade deadline acquisition Nathan Eovaldi.
Wednesday
#Mets lineup vs. Miami: Tejada-SS, Baxter-RF, Wright-3B, Davis-1B, Murphy-2B, Valdespin-LF, Torres-CF, Thole-C, Young-RHP— New York Mets (@Mets) August 8, 2012
With Jason Bay now relegated to part-time duty, Mike Baxter and Jordanny Valdespin will get the starts in the corner outfield positions. Although Valdespin has been batting in the top half of the lineup lately, he’s been moved down in favor of Baxter. That’s probably because while Valdespin has walked three times in 60 games this season, Baxter just walked five times in a single game on Saturday versus San Diego.
#Marlins lineup @ Mets: Petersen LF, Ruggiano CF, Reyes SS, Lee 1B, Stanton RF, Dobbs 3B, Green 2B, Buck C, Eovaldi P— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) August 8, 2012
Good old Jose Reyes has failed to live up to last season’s lofty heights, but he’s been hot as of late. Reyes is in the midst of a 25-game hitting streak that I’m sure Mets fans would love to see end at Citi Field. Now that Miami has traded away Hanley Ramirez and Omar Infante, Nick Green is getting some playing time, which is good news for the Mets. Also, Bryan Petersen switches into the lead-off position against the right-handed Young. Donovan Solano has been playing mostly against lefties.
Pitching Match-up
NYM — Chris Young (4.22 ERA, 38 SO, 17 BB)
Young first two months with New York featured a lot of good-but-not-great performances. Then, in consecutive starts, he turned in his worst and best performances of the year. Back on July 28, he was horrible in Arizona, with six earned runs given up in just four innings. However, Young bounced back in San Francisco with just one run allowed in seven innings. As long as he stays healthy, Young will likely continue to give the Mets solid outings. He’ll get enough lazy fly balls to survive his low strikeout rate.
MIA — Nathan Eovaldi (4.66 ERA, 40 SO, 23 BB)
Eovaldi is a young pitcher who Miami brought in from Los Angeles in the Hanley Ramirez deal. He’s got some upside, but Eovaldi hasn’t shown he has the stuff to miss bats at the big league level yet. Back when he was with the Dodgers, Eovaldi faced the Mets twice. On June 30, the Mets scored five runs off of him in 5.1 innings and Ike Davis took him deep. On July 22 at Citi Field, Eovaldi was much more effective, with seven strikeouts and just one walk and one run allowed in 4.1 innings (he was lifted early because of an elevated pitch count).
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